(UnitedVoice.com) – Overall, crime in San Francisco, California, has been dropping in recent months, according to statistics. However, it’s still uncomfortably high in some parts of the city. Drug use is also rampant. It’s gotten so bad that federal workers are being warned that it isn’t safe.
Not Safe
Federal workers who are supposed to work from offices in a Federal Building have been told to stay home and work for the foreseeable future. An August 4 memo obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle highlighted how bad things have gotten in the city. US Department of Health and Human Services officials sounded the alarm.
Cheryl Campbell, assistant secretary for the administration, wrote the memo informing the workers that they should “maximize the use of telework for the foreseeable future” if the conditions remained the same at the Federal Building. She also said the choice should be available to those who don’t have a work-from-home option currently.
Local reporters for KGO News, an ABC affiliate, took a trip to the Federal Building named after Nancy Pelosi sitting on Mission and 7th Street. They revealed that there was a group of people gathered around the entrance as soon as they arrived. One of the people was using drugs.
Lyanne Melendez, one of the members of the crew, asked the man using the drugs if he realized he was in front of the federal building. He was unconcerned, telling her that the people in the building didn’t care.
Another man who was there claimed the federal workers told them they could do drugs. Melendez said another man showed the crew his drug paraphernalia and told her it was fentanyl he’d found on the ground.
Overdoses have skyrocketed in the city, as well. As of August 15, the total of overdose deaths was 473 and was on track to exceed the daily record set in 2020.
Crime, Crime, and More Crime
In July, CNN Senior National Correspondent Kyung Lah visited a Walgreens in San Francisco and witnessed three thefts in 30 minutes while inside the store. She spotted one man walking out of the store with merchandise and asked a cashier if he paid; the worker responded that he hadn’t.
Drug dealing is such a problem that in June, Governor Gavin Newsom (D) authorized the California Highway Patrol (CHP) to double the number of officers it had in the city. The officers were also permitted to target other high-crime areas.
While the deployment of more officers has helped, it appears it’s still not safe enough for the workers at the Federal Building.
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